Potable water to be loaded onto aircraft contains various minerals, including calcium and magnesium, and some regions have especially hard water with high mineral levels. These minerals have the potential to combine with carbonate ions in water to form hard scale on surfaces in contact with the water. Scale particles' solubility decreases with increasing temperature, causing it to precipitate at elevated temperatures, especially onto heating elements. Frequently used heating elements, such those used in coffeemakers, experience the most damage from scale. Layers of scale create resistance to heat transfer, placing excessive load on heating components and elevating energy usage. Device lifetime is shortened due to severely reduced performance or failure. In addition to causing physical damage, scale is also conducive to bacteria growth, which creates a health hazard.
Coffeemakers, water heaters, steam ovens, and other devices receive frequent usage on commercial airline flights and therefore accumulate scale rapidly, limiting their useful lifetime. The financial resources and time spent on repairs and replacements are costly for airlines. It is therefore beneficial to eliminate this problem by preventing scale from depositing on any device or pipe surfaces.
Scale prevention devices are used for residential and commercial uses, for example, in homes, restaurants, and any other locations where there are scale problems associated with hard water. Embodiments of the invention will be described throughout the remainder of this document for use in connection with aircraft, but it should be understood that uses in other locations and for other purposes are possible as well. Although the embodiments described are particularly designed to be lightweight, small, and efficient as required for a passenger transport vehicle, it is envisioned that uses in other environments are possible.
Airlines have great need for products with high reliability, low acquisition and maintenance costs, minimized weight and size, and demonstrated functionality. The scale prevention devices described herein are intended to meet all of these needs within its compact design, as well as improve these attributes for other devices, such as coffeemakers and other heating elements. Simply reconfiguring a currently-available scale prevention device or plumbing it in-line with an aircraft water line system is not a feasible way to prevent scale on an aircraft or other transportation vehicle due to the nature of the water lines associated with vehicles and various space, weight, and other aircraft requirements. The system should be compact, it should have an inlet and an outlet so that it can be plumbed in-line with a water line, it should have enhanced drainage, it should work under various orientations, and should also be easy to disassemble for service.